MADIHA AZHAR

KARACHI: A skin-care product advert featuring pop icon Katy Perry and teen sensation Justin Bieber has been banned by advertising watchdogs in UK.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint that the ads were misleading as the ingredients used in the product were different from the one promoted by the American celebrities.

The marketing company behind the commercials insists that the featured stars have been using the British formulation of the product but ASA alleged that this did not back up the company’s skincare claims.

Celebrities that appeared in Proactiv ads submitted signed statements saying that they used the UK formulation of the product. However, ASA has not challenged the veracity of testimonials in relevance to the UK audience at which the ads were targeted.

The statement issued by the ASA said, “We considered the overall impression of the ads was that the celebrities were continued and regular users of Proactiv and noted the same endorsement claims were included on the US Proactiv website. We noted the ads were targeted at a UK audience and that the UK Proactiv products had a different active ingredient to the US version. In that context, we therefore considered the claims of continued use had not been substantiated. We concluded that the ads were misleading. The ads must not appear again in their current form.”